235
CHINESE LABOURERS.
268
PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION OF
8th December, 1840, that emigrants might be conveyed from Sierra Leone to Trinidad, -which permission was soon afterwards extended to Jamaica and Guiana, -and there landed, free from any obligation whatever, at the charge of the Colonial revenues; and in the month of February last the plan for superintending this emigration which is now in force was adopted. Two Ordinances, passed in Trinidad, providing for immigration into that island from the adjacent Colonies and North America, had previously been allowed; but these hardly belong to a category of Acts connected with immigration into the West India Colonies from foreign countries.
The Order in Council removing the prohibition against contracts made in Europe could not, of course, have any sensible effect on field-labour in the West Indies.
That which relates to the United States, if it should come into operation, cannot be expected, considering the wages prevalent there, to produce a material supply of agricultural labourers.
The concessions with respect to emigration from Sierra Leone have been rendered in a great measure nugatory by the conditions which accompanied them, as well as from other causes.
And with regard to the arrangement now under consideration for permitting the introduction of a limited number of Chinese, to which your Lordship has devoted so much attention, no definite expectation can be formed until the terms be finally settled, though it is hoped that it may eventually prove successful.
The West India body have no disposition to undervalue any of the measures I have here had occasion to enumerate, but it is evident they have not yet produced much practical benefit; and they regard all the facilities which these measures may afford as only partial relaxations of the grievous restriction previously enacted, on the 7th September, 1838, to their disadvantage.
The state of society in Africa has long been a subject of interesting inquiry to the members of this Committee, with the view of ascertaining how emigration might be conducted without just objection; and, although they have anxiously endeavoured to obtain correct information, as well with regard to the independent countries of Africa as the British settlements there, they are certainly not impressed with the difficulties which have occurred to your Lordship. Nor can they recognise in the possible jealousy of some foreign states an adequate reason for the disabilities imposed upon them. Any representations on the part of those states are probably designed, either to establish a justification of their own conduct in permitting the continuance of the slave trade, or to impede the progress of free emigration, which they knew would be the best means of suppressing it. But, seeing that British subjects are effectually precluded from every kind and degree of participation in that traffic by the most stringent laws which it is possible to devise; that it is certain no slave can be found within any British possession in Africa, mere presence there being sufficient proof of freedom; that no person can be removed against his will; that natives of Africa embarking for the West India colonies must, during the voyage and after their arrival, be treated in every respect like natives of Britain; Her Majesty's Government may well disregard alleged suspicion, and trust to an exposition of these facts for a complete refutation of every charge which ignorance or selfishness may suggest, without seeking to have a further appeal to needless restrictions on emigration. Referring only to the evidence presented to Parliament in August last year by the West Africa Committee, I submit that we are not entitled to assume that persons in the condition of free labourers cannot be found in the independent countries of Africa. But it is unnecessary for me to enter into a particular argument on this question, because it is not my purpose to assert that emigration from Africa should not be subjected to regulation, or that the West India body desire to countenance any transactions respecting beyond the direct control of Her Majesty's Government. It is at the same time their settled conviction that very simple instructions to superintending officers at each station would preclude the possibility of abuse, whether as regards contracts or free emigration; and, on the other hand, that every observance required from the African which can produce a want of confidence in his mind, will have the same effect as the complicated system now in force at Sierra Leone. The difference between prohibition and needful regulation, indeed, constitutes the basis of all the complaints which the West India body have to make on the subject of labour. In order to prevent improper contracts from being made out of the Colonies, it was not necessary to have recourse to absolute prohibition. There could be no difficulty in describing the terms of reasonable service, or in providing for the full explanation and open execution of contracts before competent authorities. In order to protect the people of Africa from being forcibly removed, it was not necessary to prohibit them, as they practically are, from coming to the British settlements for the purpose of emigrating, under superintendence which would ensure the absence of all restraint. That there are in the vicinity, or within access, of these possessions whole tribes in a state of freedom, is proved by the evidence already cited, while the doubtful or ill-defined vassalage of others is equally manifest. There is, moreover, a peculiar consideration affecting the introduction of labourers into the West India colonies. From whatever part of Africa or India immigrants may be brought, they cannot fail to have opportunities of improving their condition, as well as of receiving instruction, which they do not there possess. With regard to Sierra Leone, in particular, the West Africa Committee have recorded their opinion to be, "that it would be well for the African, in every point of view, to find himself a free labourer in the free British West India colonies, enjoying there, as he would, higher advantages of every kind than have fallen to the lot of the negro race in any other portion of the globe." This being the declared result of a minute investigation into the state of that settlement, where the liberated captives have long enjoyed the protection and fostering care of the British Government, there can be no doubt that the judgment of the Committee is still more applicable to every other district of Western Africa.
269
CHINESE LABOURERS TO THE WEST INDIES.
CHINESE LABOURERS.
With regard to emigration from Her Majesty's East India possessions, it is with the deepest regret and disappointment the West India body have learnt that your Lordship still entertains an apprehension of abuses, which are nevertheless only possible if the existing laws are allowed to be violated with impunity. Those to whom the local government of India is entrusted cannot allege that abuse - by which, I presume, is meant forcible or fraudulent deportation - may not be prevented under their jurisdiction, without at the same time confessing their inability, in any circumstances, to ensure personal protection to Her Majesty's Indian subjects, a proposition which I trust cannot be maintained. It was confidently supposed that your Lordship was perfectly satisfied in this respect, when Her Majesty's Government determined to repeal, in favour of Mauritius, the prohibitory Indian Act (xiv. 1839), which had been passed in pursuance of instructions from this country, "pending the full investigation of the subject," and accordingly issued the Order in Council, dated 15th January, 1842; for it is difficult to perceive how there can be greater risk of abuse in reference to emigrants embarking for Jamaica, or other West India colonies, rather than Mauritius, to which island nearly 10,000 have proceeded during the present year. With regard to the passage from India, as all the regulations concerning it are prescribed by the Passengers' Act, which makes the same provision for the comfortable accommodation and conveyance of emigrants, whether from the United Kingdom or Her Majesty's possessions abroad, no abuse can be considered as possible without also supposing that the Act may, in other cases, be found equally inefficient for its purpose. What infringement on the rights of Her Majesty's subjects can be contemplated as being more likely now to occur in the West India colonies than in the mother country I am unable to conceive. Without offering any opinion on this point, or on the comparative condition of the people in the East and West Indies, I beg leave to quote the testimony of Sir Charles Metcalfe, who long resided and governed in India, as contained in his Despatch to your Lordship, dated Jamaica, 1st November, 1841, wherein he states, "With respect to the labouring population, formerly slaves, but now perfectly free, and more independent than the same class in other free countries, I venture to say that in no country in the world can the labouring population be more abundantly provided with the necessaries and comforts of life, more at their ease, or more secure from oppression, than in Jamaica; and I may add that ministers of the gospel for the religious instruction, and schools for the education of their children, are established in all parts of the island, with a tendency to constant increase." Considering these circumstances, the West India body cannot concur with your Lordship in thinking that their interests will in any way be consulted by the continuance of a prohibition which they have always deemed to be unnecessary, or that any further experience is required to prove that its immediate repeal would be an act of just policy; and they earnestly hope that your Lordship will be induced to abandon what Mr. Grant, the late Under Secretary of the Bengal Government, describes as "the strange and servile restriction imposed on the liberty and means of livelihood
1
Cou
235
CHINESE LABOURERS.
268
PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION OF
8th December, 1840, that emigrants might be conveyed from Sierra Leone to Trinidad,-which permission was soon afterwards extended to Jamaica and Guiana, -and there landed, free from any obligation whatever, at the charge of the Colonial revenues; and in the month of February last the plan for superintending this emigration which is now in force was adopted. Two Ordinances, passed in Trinidad, providing for immigration into that island from the adjacent Colonies and North America, had previously been allowed; but these hardly belong to a category of Acts connected with immigration into the West India Colonies from foreign countries.
The Order in Council removing the prohibition against contracts mrde in Europe could not, of course, have any sensible effect on field-labour in the West Indies.
That which relates to the United States, if it should come into operation, cannot be expected, considering the wages prevalent there, to produce a material supply of agricultural labourers.
The concessions with respect to emigration from Sierra Leone have been ren- dered in a great measure nugatory by the conditions which accompanied them, as well as from other causes.
And with regard to the arrangement now under consideration for permitting the introduction of a limited number of Chinese, to which your Lordship has devoted so inuch attention, no definite expectation can be formed until the terms be finally settled, though it is hoped that it may eventually prove successful.
The West India body have no disposition to undervalue any of the measures I have here had occasion to enumerate, but it is evident they have not yet produced much practical benefit; and they regard all the facilities which these measures may afford as only partial relaxations of the grievous restriction previously enacted, on the 7th September, 1838, to their disadvantage.
The state of society in Africa has long been a subject of interesting inquiry to the members of this Committee, with the view of ascertaining how emigration might be conducted without just objection; and, although they have anxiously endea- voured to obtain correct information, as well with regard to the independent countries of Africa as the British settlements there, they are certainly not impressed with the difficulties which have occurred to your Lordship. Nor can they recognise in the possible jealousy of some foreign states an adequate reason for the disabilities imposed upon them. Any representations on the part of those states are probably designed, either to establish a justification of their own conduct in permitting the continuance of the slave trade, or to impede the progress of free emigration, which they knew would be the best means of suppressing it. But, seeing that British subjects are effectually precluded from every kind and degree of participation in that traffic by the most stringent laws which it is possible to devise; that it is certain no slave can be found within any British possession in Africa, mere presence there being sufficient proof of freedom; that no person can be removed against his will; that natives of Africa embarking for the West India colonies must, during the voyage and after their arrival, be treated in every respect like natives of Britain; Her Majesty's Government may well disregard alleged suspicion, and trust to an exposition of these facts for a complete refutation of every charge which ignorance or selfishness may suggest, without seeking to have a further appeal to needless restrictions on emigration. Referring only to the evidence presented to Parliament in August last year by the West Africa Committee, I submit that we are not entitled to assume that persons in the condition of free labourers cannot be found in the independent countries of Africa. But it is unnecessary for me to enter into a particular argument on this question, because it is not my purpose to assert that emigration from Africa should not be subjected to regulation, or that the West India body desire to countenance any trans- actions respecting beyond the direct control of Her Majesty's Government. It is at the same time their settled conviction that very simple instructions to superintending officers at each station would preclude the possibility of abuse, whether as regards contracts or free emigration ; and, on the other hand, that every observance required from the African which can produce a want of confidence in his mind, will have the same effect as the complicated system now in force at Sierra Leone. The difference between prohibition and needful regulation, indeed, consti- tutes the basis of all the complaints which the West India body have to make on the subject of labour. In order to prevent improper contracts from being made out of the Colonies, it was not necessary to have recourse to absolute prohibition. There could be no difficulty in describing the terms of reasonable service, or in providing
CHINESE LABOURERS TO THE WEST INDIES.
269
CHINESE
for the full explanation and open execution of contracts before competent authori- ties. In order to protect the people of Africa from being forcibly removed, it was LABOURERS. not necessary to prohibit them, as they practically are, from coming to the British settlements for the purpose of emigrating, under superintendence which would ensure the absence of all restraint. That there are in the vicinity, or within access, of these possessions whole tribes in a state of freedom, is proved by the evidence already cited, while the doubtful or ill-defined vassalage of others is equally mani- fest. There is, moreover, a peculiar consideration affecting the introduction of labourers into the West India colonies. From whatever part of Africa or India immigrants may be brought, they cannot fail to have opportunities of improving their condition, as well as of receiving instruction, which they do not there possess. With regard to Sierra Leone, in particular, the West Africa Committee have recorded their opinion to be," that it would be well for the African, in every point of view, to find himself a free labourer in the free British West India colonies, enjoying there, as he would, higher advantages of every kind than have fallen to the lot of the negro race in any other portion of the globe." This being the declared result of a minute investigation into the state of that settlement, where the liberated captives have long enjoyed the protection and fostering care of the British Govern- ment, there can be no doubt that the judgment of the Committee is still more appli- cable to every other district of Western Africa.
With regard to emigration from Her Majesty's East India possessions, it is with the deepest regret and disappointment the West India body have learnt that your Lordship still entertains an apprehension of abuses, which are nevertheless only possible if the existing laws are allowed to be violated with impunity. Those to whom the local government of India is entrusted cannot allege that abuse-by which, I presume, is meant forcible or fraudulent deportation-may not be pre- vented under their jurisdiction, without at the same time confessing their inability, in any circumstances, to ensure personal protection to Her Majesty's Indian sub- jects, a proposition which I trust cannot be maintained. It was confidently supposed that your Lordship was perfectly satisfied in this respect, when Her Majesty's Government determined to repeal, in favour of Mauritius, the pro- hibitory Indian Act (xiv. 1839), which had been passed in pursuance of instruc- tions from this country, "pending the full investigation of the subject," and accordingly issued the Order in Council, dated 15th January, 1842; for it is difficult to perceive how there can be greater risk of abuse in reference to emigrants einbarking for Jamaica, or other West India colonies, rather than Mau- ritius, to which island nearly 10,000 have proceeded during the present year. With regard to the passage from India, as all the regulations concerning it are prescribed by the Passengers' Act, which makes the same provision for the com- fortable accommodation and conveyance of emigrants, whether from the United Kingdom or Her Majesty's possessions abroad, no abuse can be considered as pos- sible without also supposing that the Act may, in other cases, be found equally inefficient for its purpose. What infringement on the rights of Her Majesty's sub- jects can be contemplated as being more likely now to occur in the West India colonies than in the mother country I am unable to conceive. Without offering any opinion on this point, or on the comparative condition of the people in the East and West Indies, I beg leave to quote the testimony of Sir Charles Met- calfe, who long resided and governed in India, as contained in his Despatch to your Lordship, dated Jamaica, 1st November, 1841, wherein he states, "With respect to the labouring population, formerly slaves, but now perfectly free, and more independent than the same class in other free countries, I'venture to say that in no country in the world can the labouring population be more abundantly pro- vided with the necessaries and comforts of life, more at their ease, or more secure from oppression, than in Jamaica; and I may add that ministers of the gospel for the religious instruction, and schools for the education of their children, are esta- blished in all parts of the island, with a tendency to constant increase." Considering these circumstances, the West India body cannot concur with your Lordship in thinking that their interests will in any way be consulted by the continuance of a prohibition which they have always deemed to be unnecessary, or that any further experience is required to prove that its immediate repeal would be an act of just policy; and they earnestly hope that your Lordship will be induced to abandon what Mr. Grant, the late Under Secretary of the Bengal Government, describes as "the strange and servile restriction imposed on the liberty and means of livelihood
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